Qaimov the ‘spy’

After 17 years, ‘Qaim Baba’, has found his space in Peshawar – at a graveyard in Banar Mari.

PESHAWAR:

Few people knew Qaimov. He wasn’t a man known for small talk and would rarely respond when someone spoke to him. Most people thought the man who would tirelessly walk around the city was insane.

After 17 years, this mysterious yet familiar wanderer, who was known as ‘Qaim Baba’, has found his space in Peshawar – at a graveyard in Banar Mari. With his death, the 70-year-old has largely taken with him the mystery surrounding his life in this city.

So here’s the story of Qaimov: In the late 90s Qaimov, a Russian national, along with other captives in Afghanistan, was sent to Peshawar where he was handed over to the Peshawar Central Jail authorities.Qaimov spent several months in the jail, some of it in its psychiatric hospital, before he was finally released. After that he spent his days and nights walking the streets of Peshawar. He never begged, but was given financial help by several people who became acquaintances and friends over time.

With no formal rituals such as a ‘soyem’ observed for him, Qaimov’s funeral was attended by 10 odd friends on May 26 this year.



Qaimov’s silence intrigued the people who saw him. Some suspected him of being a spy for a secret agency. A resident of Dalazak Road, Israr Khan – who would often see the man walk past – remembers his “neat clothes”. “He would never talk to anyone and just keep walking; the people in my area believed he was a spy.”

Qaimov’s was a familiar face across the city. “My friend told me the Russian man who would roam around in our area has passed away,” said Mazhar Ali, who lives on the other end of Peshawar in Landi Arbab.

He would go around town in his pair of shorts, seemingly unconcerned about local dress codes. In winter, Qaimov would be in his half-sleeved shirt and trousers. “Qaimov, as he introduced himself, would always have a haversack in which he would carry toothpaste, toothbrush, towel, soap and in the summer, Mospel (mosquito repellent),” said Ali.

But Qaimov did offer glimpses into his past to some of his friends. Qazi, who works at a tyre repair shop in Shuba Bazaar, said Qaimov stayed near his shop for several years. “Qaimov would speak to me, but he was too reserved. It seemed he almost hated everyone else.

“He would talk a lot about international politics, but I wasn’t learned enough to match the depth of his discussion. I attended his funeral and he was looking as smart in his coffin as he always did,” Qazi said. “We have lost a learned friend.”

He would introduce himself as ‘Qaimov – a national of the former Soviet Union’. Qaimov was a radio journalist back in Moscow during the times of the cold war and came to Afghanistan to cover the war when Soviet troops landed in the region, said Peshawar-based journalist Shamim Shahid, who was one of the few people Qaimov frequently visited.

“He had good political insight, particularly on American politics and the Gorbachev era of the Soviet Union. In his last days he used to say, ‘America is not here to go back (from the region).’”

Qaimov was in Kunduz, Afghanistan where he was taken into captivity by Hizb-e-Islami fighters. He was later arrested and imprisoned at Charsyab jail for several years. After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in September 1996, he with other inmates – around 220 people in all – was handed over to Pakistan, said Shahid.

Qaimov was approached by officials from Ukraine, Russia and several Central Asian Republics, who offered help for repatriation. But he refused to return, said Shahid, who had arranged meetings between Qaimov and the diplomats.

He would say he can’t go back because he didn’t do anything for his family, Shahid added. “Qaimov had left behind four daughters and his wife when he came to Afghanistan. He felt he couldn’t face them anymore.”

But while Qaimov may have claimed to have neglected his family, his kindness towards strangers startled many who mistook his silence for apathy. “Once I gave him a blanket and in the morning he was without it,” Shahid said. “When I asked Qaimov what happened to the blanket, he said ‘I gave it to a man poorer than me,’”

Another friend, Advocate Shahnawaz said Qaimov had studied economics and political science. He was able to speak Pashtu, Russian, Persian (including Darri) and Uzbek. He later learnt Urdu and Hindko as well. He especially loved the poetry of Allama Iqbal, Khushhal Khan Khattak, Rahman Baba and Sheikh Saadi.

“He was well-versed in international politics and economics,” said Shahnawaz. “But his experiences, his time in jail and the torture he was subjected to, left him mentally disturbed.”

To illustrate his philanthropy, Shahnawaz quotes Qaimov: ‘Give me enough money so that if a beggar asks for Rs10 I have something to give him.’

Published in The Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2013.